Quack-grass digger



' J. B. MILLER.

QUACK GRASS DIGGER.

APPLICATION FILED APR- 4. 19,13.

Patented Mar. 16,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

J. B. MILLER.

QUACK GRASS BIGGER.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 4, I918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

cz sm'zizj m 4 NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN B. MILLER, OF SAUK CENTER, MINNESOTA.

QUAGK-GRASS BIGGER.

Application filed. April 4, 1918.

iib ell whom it may, concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN B. MILLER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Sank Center, in the county of Stearns and State ofMinnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Quack-Grass Diggers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact de scription of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it ap pertains to make and use thesame.

The object of the inventionis to provide a simple and comparativelyinexpensive apparatus designed especially for digging, uprooting andremoving quack grass, detaching the loose earth therefrom and depositing the grass itself in a suitable receptacle or vehicle or spreading itupon the surface of the ground so as to be dried and renderedunobjectionable, and more especially to provide means by which thesurface of the ground in which the quack grass is growing is preparedfor the operation of a fol* lowing shovel or scoop by which the grassmay be taken up and received by a suitable conveyor constituting ashaker.

With these and similar objects in View, the invention consists in aconstruction, com bination and relation of parts hereinafter fully setforth, it being understood that changes in form, proportion and detailsmay be resorted to, within the scope of the ap pended claims, withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawing Figure l is a side view of a machine embodying apreferred form of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of that portion of the machine embodying theshovel or scoop and the related cutter disks and the adjacent portion ofthe conveyer.

Fig. 3 is a detail enlarged sectional View of the digger wheel, taken ina plane par allel with the axis thereof.

Fig. at is a detail section of a portion of the digger wheel, taken in aplane at right angles to that of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a front view of the shovel or scoop with the cutter disk andrelated parts of the machine.

Mounted upon a suitable supporting frame work having ground wheels is aconveyer 11 with which is associated a shovel or scop 12 preferablylocated in rear of a digger wheel 13 which has a broad peripheralsurface for contact with the soil Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 16, 1920.

Serial No. 226,673.

and is provided with a plurality of circumferential series of *adiallydisposed spurs or teeth 14 which are preferably curved or bent, as shownin detail in Fig. 4, to serve as means for breaking up the surface ofthe soil and uprootin the quack grass. The body portion of the wheel maybe of any preferred construction but as illustrated it consists of therim 15 and axle sleeve or hub 16 connected by the radial frames 17, theprongs or teeth being preferably independently attached to the rim sothat they may be replaced when broken or injured, or may be removed forrepair. This digger wheel carried by a tongue 18 by means of whichconnection may be made with a tractor or other means for hauling, andthe shovel or scoop is supported by the frame in such a position as topass under the broken portion of the surface of the soil and raise thelatter with the quack grass and itsroots and deposit the same upon theconveyor which serves to detach the loose earth and carry the grass androots to a point of deposit.

At each side of the plane of the shovel or scoop, and designed toseparate the path of the latter from the adjoining soil, is a cutterdisk 19, each being mounted upon a suitable bracket 20 supported by theaforesaid frame 21.

Obviously any suitable or preferred means may be employed for varyingthe depth of the out of the shovel or scoop, such devices being commonin the agricultural art, and in operation it is obvious furthermore thatthe action of the curved teeth or prongs of the digger wheel will servenot only to break up the soil and uproot the grass but in a largemeasure separate the same from the dirt or loose earth so as to preparethe same for the followingoperation of the shovel or scoop and thecimveyer.

Moreover, it Will be obvious that the construction of the essentialelements of the machine may be used in connection with and applied toone of the Well known types of potato diggers having a shovel or scoopand conveyer for conducting the material to a suitable conveyor, thedigger wheel of this device being applied by means of an attachablebracket arm 22 to the tongue or beam of such a machine so as to operatein advance of said shovel or scoop, while the marking or cutter disksare arranged on opposite sldes of Sllld shovel as and for th" purposehereinabove indicated.

(ill

As a means of preventing the teeth of the digger wheel from carrying thematerial around with it, and thereby involving the accumulation ofmaterial on the teeth and an interference with the proper operationofthe device, a toothed scraper 23 may be sup ported by the tongue or beamof the machine, the teeth being arranged intercun rently with the teethon the wheel as shown in detail in Fig. 3. As the digger wheel rotates,should portions of the growing plants become entangled therewith andcarried upward by the teeth of the wheel, such accumulation will beCl'GtZLihGCl and caused to drop back upon the ground in Pu: tion to betaken up by the shovel or scoop as hereinbefore explained.

As will be clearly noted from Figs. 1 and 4 of the dr rings, the spurs14- are given a decided curwtture, as previously stated, this curvaturebeing reverse to the direction of rotation of the digging v-i ieel durng advancement oi? the machine. This digging wheel acts as a supportingmember for the forward or front end of the machine and is held into firmengagement with the ground surface thereby. As the machine advances thediggin wheel rotates in a clockwise direction as considered in Fig. 1,the spurs 14 actin-grto afl'ectually cut up and pulverize the soil so toloosen the grass roots and separate them therefrom, these roots beingthen engaged by the scoop 12 which directs them onto the elevator 11 inthe manner described. Due to the reverse curvature of the spurs 14,these spurs will shed practically all of the grass roots thus preventingentangling of the roots with the spurs such g as would occur if thespurs were straight and disposed truly radial of the wheel. In the"event that any of the roots should become entangled with the spurs,these roots will be removed by the teeth of rake or comb. structure 28,the roots thus removed slipping readily off of the teeth and beinggradually worked rearwardly so as to be discharged upon the groundsurface in rear of the digging wheel.

What is claimed is:

1. Ina machine of the character described, a portable supporting frame,a conveyer carriedthereby, a forwardly directed scoop for deliveringmaterial to the conveyer dur ing advancement of the machine, and adigging wheel positioned in advance of and in alinement with said scoopand corresponding approximately in width thereto, said wheel beingprovided with outwardly pro jecting spurs curved reversely to thedirection of rotation oi the wheel during advancement of the machine,said spurs acting to pulverize the soil so as to separate the rootstherefrom and the reverse curvature of the teeth preventing accumulationof roots thereby.

2. In a machine of the character described, a portable supporting frame,a conveyor carried thereby, a forwardly directed scoop associated withsaid conveyor for delivering grass roots thereto during advancement oi"the machine, a tongue extending forwardly of said frame, and a diggingwheel secured to said tongue in advance of and in alinement with saidscoop, said wheel providing a third point of support for the machine soas to be h ld in tight contact with the ground surface and beingprovided with outwardlyprojecting spurs for pulverizing the soil duringadvancement of the machine.

3. In machine of the character described, a digging wheel mounted forengagement with the ground surface and provided with a plurality ofoutwardly projecting spurs curved longitudinally reverscly to thedirect-ion of rotation of the wheel during :id vancement of the machine,a toothed scraper supported adjacent said wheel and provided with aplurality of teeth between which the spurs of said wheel are adapted topass, the rearward curvature of the spurs permitting matelial carriedthereby and engaged by the teeth of said scraper to readily slide )\'(1'said spurs toward the outer ends thereof so as to be easily removedwithout brea-hujlr from these spurs, and means positioned in rear ofsaid digging wheel for coliectiug grass roots separated from the soiltlicrcirr.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN B. MILLER.

Witnesses DAN S. RILEY,

E. C. RILEY.

